Vasilisa

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Girl · Greek

Vasilisa

Say it: vah-see-LEE-sah

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Greek basilissa 'queen'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

A fairy-tale and calendar name that became fashionable for Russian babies in the 21st century.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

211 babies given this name since 2006
At its height in 2016, about 1 in 57,000 girls
10 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

The family of the name

Other spellings: Василиса

Ukrainian	Vasylyna
Greek	Basilissa

Famous bearers

Vasilisa the Beautiful, Russian fairy-tale heroine

Names worth a look

ParaskeviGirlGreek paraskeuē, 'preparation', the Greek name for Friday, the day of preparation before the Sabbath.Early Medieval

VarvaraGirlRussian form of Barbara, from Greek barbaros 'foreign'.Middle Ages

UlyanaGirlRussian form of Juliana, from the Roman family name Julius.Middle Ages

YekaterinaGirlRussian form of Catherine, from Greek Aikaterine, of unknown origin; the link with 'pure' is a folk etymology.Renaissance

MilicaGirlFrom Slavic mil 'dear, gracious' with the diminutive suffix -ica.Middle Ages

MarfaGirlRussian form of Martha, from Aramaic marta 'lady, mistress'.Middle Ages · forgotten

VasilikiGirlFrom Greek basilikē 'royal', the feminine of Vasilios.Middle Ages · peak 1976

GhislaineGirlFeminine of Ghislain; probably from Germanic gisil 'pledge, hostage', but uncertain.Modern · forgotten

Where this comes from

Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
Well-known works of literature
National birth statistics of European countries source
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.